Vicar Heather and her family moved to Milwaukee the summer of 2020, and have been enjoying time outdoors in nature before their first MKE winter hits. (Pray for them, y’all.) They already have a favorite frozen custard and fried cheese curd spot in town, and Heather happens to come from a family of Packers fans.
Before accepting the call to ministry, Heather enjoyed working in the corporate world in process improvement, instructional design, and software training, positions which allowed her to be analytical and creative. She has applied her prior knowledge at several congregations and at Luther seminary, and is happy to now support Cross Lutheran’s online ministry presence.
At Luther Seminary, Heather is a Beloved Community Scholar, which means she enjoys bringing people together across the lines that typically divide us, like class, sexuality, religion, and ethnicity, in order to work together to bring about justice. She loves that being beloved community is already such a core part of Cross Lutheran’s identity as a congregation. Heather is completing her 4th year in the MDiv program with a concentration in Congregational Mission and Development, a concentration which allows her to learn about and contemplate new ways of being church in the world.
Heather has a soft spot in her heart for people who were raised in fundamentalist churches who still carry deep wounds that affect their mind, body, and spirit. At a former congregation she partnered with several people to launch a monthly religious trauma support group that continues to be a space for healing. She knows how hard it can be to learn to trust a congregation again, and is thankful for the many ways that Cross Lutheran “walks the walk” and truly affirms the beauty in all of God’s creation.